German documentary highlights difficulties of Palestinians’ life in Israel

AMMAN — German documentary “Absent-Present” sheds light on the life of Palestinians in Israeli cities, places its protagonists see as their habitat but not as home.

Highlighting the paradox of existing in a country without truly living, the film follows a Palestinian family over four months amid protests, evictions, detentions and meetings of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue groups.

Directors Claire Roggan and Antonia Traulsen told The Jordan Times that they shot the 80-minute documentary in 2010 as a project for their master’s dissertation.

“European media and the public tend to focus on the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, ending up knowing very little about those living inside Israel, so we decided to approach the topic from a different angle,” Roggan said following the film’s screening in Jabal Amman’s Rainbow Theatre on Wednesday.

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the state of Israel was established on Palestinian land and later expanded…